Wizard Fest 2014

I spent Saturday at Country Village's Wizard Fest.  It is so close to where I live I couldn't resist going once again.  Country Village is such a beautiful location and the only outdoor venue I show my work at so far.  This event is mainly for children although witches and wizards of all ages do attend.  It is a fun break from the big art shows and I get to take my children with me to tend the booth and run our free raffle.  The Seattle area happens to be in the middle of an unseasonable heatwave so we were thankful for the shade of our tent and the sound of the large water fountain near our location.  I will share some photos of the day below.

 The Wizard's Magic Show brought the skills of Hogwarts to the Village and thrilled the budding students.  I'll tip my hat to this fabulous and funny wizard to managed to perform so graciously in his stunning robes in ninety-plus degree heat!

One of the great things about an outdoor venue is you get to meet lots of pets.  At a wizarding show people tend to have some unusual pets.  This giant iguana was content to ride on his owner's jacket or stroll confidently on his leash.  I also had some of the Village chickens wander into my booth as I was setting up- just missed getting a photo of one eye to eye with one of my sculptures!

Even the vendors came decked out is robes.  Who wouldn't want to shop this gentleman's store?

One of the main reasons I love this show is it gives me the chance to catch up with Dennis Brown.  He is a fine artist and adviser and I always enjoy his company.  I am lucky to have someone with such skills living so close.  This time we swapped pieces and this photo shows Dennis holding the piece I took home.  I have one of his borrowers and this pumpkin-headed guy is now sitting next to it.

So the work completed for the past twelve days of my Summer Challenge was dozens of baby house elves and creatures.  The remaining pieces will be added to my Etsy shop this week.  I am finally able to get back to preparing for Halloween and have some hard sculpts in the works of a witch, pumpkin man and mummy.

Check in for photos soon!

Alice, Unicorns and the Midnight Hour

I am 10 days into my summer challenge already!  All in all I would have to say I am happy with my progress.  I managed to complete one sculpted Alice in Wonderland, a custom art doll and seven charms.  The one truly helpful factor is the sun being up so long.  I can easily deceive myself into feeling like it is 4pm instead of 9pm, at least for a little while.  It also helps to be motivated by what I am making.

Here is this week's group shot.

This is the first time I have done a little unicorn elf charm.  More of these are on the way largely because I committed to appearing at Wizard Fest again this year.  The show is tons of of fun and very child oriented so the charms are perfect for that show.  It is also a fun one for my daughters to attend with me.  If you are in the Seattle area come by Country Village on the 12th and say hello!

 

The challenges this week were scheduling.  Five doctor appointments, a plumbing mishap, relatives coming for a short stay and a day camp to juggle.  It was an eventful week but it was also a fun one.  It does help to know I am reporting in here every week to keep me plugging along into the wee hours and I am still curious to see what I can accomplish each week! For now, I will leave you with a photo of Alice and get on to planning the next few projects!

 

My Summer Challenge

My family is officially four days into summer break!  This is a welcome end to a crazy school/lessons/sports schedule and the beginning of summer fun.  It also means that my work hours go from being daylight to midnight if I am lucky.  If I were realistic I would dial down expectations and to do lists accordingly.  I am not that sort of person of course.  I like a challenge.  So what better thing to do than defy the laws of summer and challenge myself to not only keep my three girls busy and happy but to keep accomplishing actual, physical sculpture work every day.

 Madness! 

Now that is more like it.

The goal is to sculpt or paint or otherwise work on completing a piece.  This does not include computer work like marketing or blogging, shipping, paperwork, etc.  Those things generally get done because they must.  They have actual deadlines. Production of new things usually gets pushed down the list.  This is manageable when I have actual full work days, no so much on summer schedules.  I plan to document this experiment daily through my Instagram feed (griffinwyseinsta) with a #griffinwysemadness.  I will update the progress of the completed work and comments here, no doubt kicking myself for ever thinking this up and then being fool enough to commit publicly.  That being said, I may just get more done than I could imagine and blow my own mind with new skills and groundbreaking ideas ( I find it helps to stay positive).

  Wish me luck and Happy Summer! I am off to work!

Quinlan Doll and Teddy Bear Convention 2014

I just returned from the Quinlan show this past week and I am still in the process of getting the studio back together and ready for the next round of work.  This was the first time I traveled so far from my northwest home base for a show.  I had heard such wonderful things about Quinlan from other artists that I could not resist seeing it for myself.  I also took an extra day to tour Philadelphia.  Like the true sculpture junkie I am I had to document every statue and relief in sight and I will share just a few here as well as some of my favorite work from the show itself.

 I am definitely a fan of ornate buildings.  The more carving, gingerbread, sculptures and details you can pile on the better.  I looked across the street from this gorgeous building and see the sleek glass modern cubes and they simply do not compare in my eyes.  This building took 30 years to complete - not something you see in the modern age. Sigh

 

Coming from the land of the Craftsman home, these neighborhoods were particularly charming.

 

I had to visit some of the historical sites as well (you must set a good example for the children after all) so here you have the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin (above) and the Hall of Independence viewed from the Liberty Bell building (below).  Since Franklin's famous quote is "A penny saved is a penny earned" it is customary to toss pennies on his grave.  Interesting, since he is encouraging people to SAVE pennies.

Back at the show, over 125 doll and bear artists presented their work.  The bear artists took me on a bit of a trip down memory land since I sold artist bears in a shop I worked in when I fist moved to Seattle 21 years ago.  I overheard several conversation where bear artists became fans of dolls and doll artists discovered bears.  There were countless inspiring pieces in both categories so it was hard to pick only two to share here.  While these are by far not the only great artists I could have chosen from I also had to select from the best of the photos I had taken.

I had seen Nina Tugarina's work (above) in photos before but it is truly stunning in person.  I also met the very sweet Natalie Ruiz who won an award for this piece (below) which I believe is called "Tangled".

Without a doubt, the best reason to attend Quinlan is the sheer amount of quality work you can see in one day.  Personally, I would return for the company of fellow artists who were all very open and friendly and included this sole traveler in their circles, as well as for the generous and gracious hosts of the show, Susan and Terry Quinlan.

Polar Elf Fashion

I have been away from my blog for far longer than I anticipated!

 This year has been full of twists and turns largely of the undesired kind but I am happy to say the most wonderful things have been happening in my artistic life.  I have been accepted into a talented group of artists- The Professional Doll Makers Art Guild!  My White Rabbit is on their cover page currently.  The link to the site is http://www.artdollguild.com/.  There are some amazing artists in this group whose careers I have followed and I am honored to now be a member.  If you are interested in seeing the variety offered in the art doll world, this site is a great place to start. And I get to check this off of my Bucket List! Cheers!

Working in the studio is such a solitary environment it is easy to forget that my work is actually out there being seen and collected.  I tend to feel like a mad scientist here some days working furiously away on my latest must-creates and ticking away to do lists. I am now preparing for a holiday show and getting around to galleries in an attempt to balance the in-studio and out-of-studio time. 

So what is materializing from all of this?

Elf Fashion

 Not the cover girl you were expecting, is it?

I will venture to guess you have not spent much time pondering this subject but there is a job for everyone and currently this is mine.  I tend to think that if a being is around for very long periods of time (hundreds of years, let's just say) they would tend to have a large repertoire of fashion history under their belts.  Elves must create.  It is part of their job description.  I don't think they would just get up, throw on sweats and haphazardly sling paint and hammer day in and day out.  No way, not a very romantic notion by any means.  In my estimation of elf culture (insert knowing raise of eyebrows) they would have wardrobes as varied and eccentric and they are bound to be themselves.  No simple red shifts and puff-topped sock shoes here please.  My latest little pair reflects a mix of classic, Victorian and a touch of steampunk.

Colette and Pierre

Edgy elves may not be a household phrase just yet but give it time.  I will keep designing away here, mixing up decades and trims, the sleek and shabby, throwing in a potion or two to see what falls together.  Life can be unpredictable; mix things up and have fun!

The Wicked Witch's Story

Funny how things that you love as a child fade and reappear in new and interesting ways.  I grew up in Kansas in the days prior to instant internet access to anyone anywhere.  I had a vivid imagination and loved movies and books.  The movie "The Wizard of Oz" was my favorite and it was only on television once per year.  Yes, I am dating myself a bit but there you have it.  I wanted to be Dorothy and I was terrified of the witch and her flying monkey minions.  I would watch her scenes with the blanket pulled up under my nose, not wanting to miss anything but not wanting to see it either. Margaret Hamilton portrayed a wicked witch in her most classic form brilliantly in my opinion.  That cackle is burned into my memory.

A few weeks ago we went to see the new Oz movie which we all enjoyed a great deal.  One of the things I loved was how they made the Wicked Witch of the West a likable character.  That is something that the writers of the television show "Once Upon a Time" do so well with all of their stories- make you empathize with even the darkest character.  They give them a past, a heartbreak, a seemingly valid reason to behave as they do so you no longer see them in the same way.  When I set about making my own Wicked Witch of the West I decided to combine my original mental images of the 1939 version of the Wicked Witch and the new softer version to create this likeness.  I wanted her to still have some of her original beauty tinged with the beginnings of a broken and darkening heart.

 It was her tears in the new film that really struck me.  This witch that once petrified me to the core suddenly had a heart. My Wicked Witch had to include her tears.

 I like to include many trims and details on my art dolls so I beaded extra emerald beads into her bodice, hat and over-sized boots.  She has dual-toned stitching, , feathers, frayed fiber details and her gown is a mix of fine beading and tattered, flowing ribbons of fabric. 

I will continue to bring some of my favorite characters to life with new twists and what-ifs but for now I am enjoying the company of this new witch.  I have enjoyed my little trip down Memory Lane here in my northwest home noting that it is a little funny that I ended up moving from Kansas to Seattle, the Emerald City.  I assure you it was coincidence, my passion for Oz would not have dictated that kind of real life move, but it was amusing to think about.

Carpathian Circus

One of the wonderful things about creating a world of your own is that you are limitless in characters, events, places and abilities. I love the idea of the circus- a traveling make-believe world.  When I was very young and staying with my grandparents one summer I woke up to find a circus setting up in a large field across the street from their house.  I remember staring out the front window waiting to get a glimpse of something fantastic.  We did cross the street at one point and a kind man there let me pet one of the horses- magic for a child.  Even now I have a sign in my office that might be more reflective of both my active household and studio space combined, saying "Impossible you say? Nothing is impossible when you work for the circus!"

  Based on these ideas, the most recent Griffinwyse growth has been the development of the two circuses; The Carpathian Winter and Midsummer Circuses.  The Winter Circus is a vision of black, white, grey and red.  It is a more mysterious, dark web of magic and illusion and its patrons and performers reflect that feel.

 Here is Deirdre, a fortune teller with the Carpathian Winter Circus who finds sprouting horns most entertaining when trying to keep patrons honest during a reading.

 Ciardha and Chandara are vampire sisters.  Circus-goers believe this is a disguise, merely amazing make-up to add to the other-worldly atmosphere under the great tents.  The true great secret of both circuses is that everything one sees is truly skillful magic disguised as illusions.  Feasting on patrons is not allowed, however, as these two can attest.

The Midsummer Circus is a celebration of color, characters and imagery.  They are a wonderland of the odd and interesting wrapped in trims and nonsense. Why two circuses, you may ask?  I believe it is opposites that I love most- dark and light, sinister and innocent, and the very opposition that makes each side more distinct when compared to the other.  Would I want to attend a moody circus of dark and interesting characters in the season when darkness comes early and spooks and goblins seem most likely to wander? Yes, please.  Would I be just as eager to see a circus manned by curious characters of borderline sanity romping in the spring? Sign me up.  Let them (as they say in show business) entertain you!

 Sweet Tessa, a face-painter with the Midsummer Circus, loves children.  She skillfully paints anything a child desires in no time at all, sending them happily skipping off to their next destinations transformed.

Celeste is a perfect example of the merry clothing that adorns the performers of the Midsummer Circus.

There will be larger, elaborate characters added to each circus as time allows as well as more of the loop-jointed and fully poseable art dolls and figurines.  On the list waiting to be brought to life; the bearded lady, tarot card reader, magician, witch/wizard, balloon artist, etc. Who might you be interested in seeing?

Coming in my next blog- a little trip to a place called Oz, revisiting my favorite childhood film!